The City of Schertz desires to construct a sanitary sewer system to collect and transport wastewater from the Cibolo West sewershed to the CCMA south water reclamation plant.  Once constructed, the Cibolo West line will be a major gravity trunk main that will be between 15,000 and 20,000 feet long and will serve around 3,000 acres of land (length and area served to be refined during Study).  The upper end of the line will accept flow that is currently conveyed to CCMA's O.J. Riedel Water Reclamation Plant via lift stations and force mains (Corbett and Saddlebrook).  Wastewater flows will be intercepted and allowed to flow by gravity to the CCMA South Plant.  Gravity sewer systems are subsantially more cost-effective than pressurized systems.  Operation and maintenance cost savings will be realized and will have significant positive impact on City resources.

Portions of that topographic sewershed lie within the certificated areas of convenience and neccessity (CCNs) of the City of Schertz and Green Valley Special Utility District (GVSUD).  The City and GVSUD, as part of a mediated settlement, have agreed to share the cost of a route study to be performed to establish the wastewater loading and alignment of the proposed route for the main.  The Route Study and Analysis (the Study) will include master planning of the line, hydraulic modeling, opinions of probable construction cost and pre-design services to size and cost share the wastewater trunk main for the City and GVSUD.

The Cibolo West line has been on the City's Master Sewer Plan for many years, is part of the City's Comprehensive Capital Improvement Plan, and is identified as a project in the wastewater capital recovery capital improvement plan currently nearing completion.

Lockwood, Andrews, and Newnam (LAN) was contracted to complete the City's Water and Wastewater Master Plan and Impact Fee Update project that is currently nearing completion. As part of that project, LAN created, calibrated, and used a model of the City’s existing wastewater infrastructure. The Cibolo West line is one of the future capital improvement projects included by LAN in the updated Wastewater Master Plan and modeled with others to address future growth projections. Staff identified LAN as the best qualified and situated engineering firm to complete this study for reasons of continuity and ease of use and knowledge of the model with which it will be evaluated.

The goal of the route study for the Cibolo West Wastewater Trunk Main is to identify and analyze alternate alignments, determine the size of main needed based on current and projected development within the sewershed, estimate the cost of construction, and recommend appropriate cost sharing of construction and operation costs with GVSUD. 

The City continues to experience tremendous growth.  With that growth comes a demand for public utilities, including sanitary sewer.  In order for the City to provide that service to as yet undeveloped areas within the City's CCN, trunk mains such as the nearly completed Woman Hollering Creek Wastewater Main and this proposed Cibolo West Line are critical and will serve as the main arteries for a wastewater system serving southern Schertz.

Staff recommends authorization of the professional services agreement with LAN for the route study and analysis of the Cibolo West Wastewater Trunk Main.

The Cibolo West Wastewater Main project, including this Study, will be funded by wastewater impact fees.  In accordance with the settlement agreement between the City and GVSUD, the cost of the Study will be 50 percent funded by each entity. The contract amount is set at $254,210.00 with a not to exceed of $300,000.00. The Water Impact Fee balance is estimated to be $785,000 as of September 30, 2024.

Approve Resolution 24-R-82.